Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 27, 2016.
No Angels Dancing – [excerpt from first piece]
No Angels Dancing – [excerpt from second piece]
Quoted from Mechanical Forest Sound
There was a goodly handful of folks out to chill with this on Easter Sunday, though the Annex streets, far from chill, offered an unholiday-y streetscape, including a crowd outside the Brunny. I keep forgetting that Easter isn’t Easter like it used to be, with the city locked up tighter than a drum. (Of course, within a couple weeks, the Brunny wouldn’t be the Brunny like it used to be either.) The occasion was a now-rare visit to the city from drummer D. Alex Meeks, giving him a chance to reunite with a couple of his formerly-frequent improvising partners. Kicking things off with Allison Cameron and Stephen Parkinson was a bit like putting on an old pair of shoes — immediately comfortable and ready to lope around in. As soon as that familiar watchmaker’s ratapat drumbeat started ticking it was as if no time had passed since I last saw the group in action. It was also interesting to contrast Meeks’ free-but-tightly-controlled style with the percussion work that Germaine Liu has been bringing to the group’s reformulation.
OTHER RECORDINGS
Music by Stephen Parkinson and D. Alex Meeks
Live at The Tranzac, August 3, 2014
No Angels Dancing – [Second Set, First Piece, Part I]
No Angels Dancing – [Second Set, First Piece, Part II]
No Angels Dancing – [Second Set, First Piece, Part III]
Quoted from Mechanical Forest Sound
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 3, 2014.
The “No Angels Dancing” residency was founded by Allison Cameron as a laboratory to explore her musical ideas. Drummer D. Alex Meeks was on board right from the start, and soon guitarist Stephen Parkinson was joining in regularly as well. With Cameron out of town for the long weekend, her co-conspirators held down the fort for an afternoon of highly pleasing creations. Parkinson is an economical and crafty improviser on the guitar, while Meeks plays with a watchmaker’s precision — albeit in a manner suggesting that springs might start bursting forth at any instant, kicking things into a new time signature. Together, they were captivating throughout, whether partaking of polite shredfests, neck-squeezing lockgrooves or finger-rolling folkjams. What a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon. [N.B.: The next instalment of the series, with Cameron back in attendance, will be on Sunday, September 7th, from 1 to 3 p.m.]